Clichy: Barcelona fouls were worse than mine

The left-back was dismissed as Manchester City were beaten 2-1 but believes Joe Hart's penalty save could be a turning point in the tie

25.02.2015 10:11:23

Gael Clichy was frustrated with his sending off against Barcelona but believes Joe Hart's penalty save has kept Manchester City in with a realistic chance of progressing in the Champions League.
The France international picked up his first booking for bringing down Ivan Rakitic in the second half and was dismissed with 16 minutes remaining after a challenge on Dani Alves.
While he accepts he can have few complaints over the decision, the former Arsenal man feels Tuesday's opponents were guilty of worse challenges that went unpunished during the 90 minutes.
"I think if you play by the rule, it's probably two yellows," Clichy told Sky Sports.
"I did two fouls during the game, I don't even call these as 'big' fouls, so probably after the first booking, if I made four or five fouls and ref is saying: 'okay, that's the sixth one, that's enough' that would have been fair but it was only my second one.
"They made some fouls as well, probably worse than mine, and didn't get booked. But I cannot complain because if you play by the rule it's two bookings."
Luis Suarez's double fired Barcelona into a first-half lead before Sergio Aguero pulled a goal back in the 69th minute.
Lionel Messi had the chance to make it 3-1 in injury time but his penalty was saved by Joe Hart, while the Argentine missed his follow-up header with the goal open.
"I think this save is a massive one," said Clichy.
"I'm not talking about the quality of Joe because he's one of the leaders in the dressing room and on the pitch, but this save could be the turning point.
"I'm not saying it's going to be easy and you cannot say the save is going to make us win the game but for sure, 2-1 is better than 3-1, we have to look forward. We going to try and do our best at the Nou Camp."
Manchester City 1-2 Barcelona